Tag Archives: Paul

Choosing Jesus, rejecting Paul

1 Reply

The other day a friend included this in a Facebook post:

“I take Jesus much more seriously than I do Paul.”

That statement didn’t sit well with me.

On the one hand, well… yeah. Jesus is Lord of Lords. He should be taken much more seriously than any other human.

But it seems to me that this friend was echoing a sentiment that I hear in the church today, a need to downplay the writings of Paul and emphasize the gospels. He wasn’t really talking about Jesus and Paul as individuals, but about their teachings.

Historically, churches of Christ have often been guilty of doing just the opposite, preaching Paul and ignoring the gospels. I’ve written before about the strange doctrine that would seek to relegate the gospels to a time long past, discounting their relevance and applicability to people today. That’s an extreme form of the traditional view that argues “The New Testament begins with Acts 2.” (I’ve heard that exact statement)

Today’s view would seem to be the expected pendulum swing that happens so often as churches, as people react to one view by going to the opposite extreme.

I want to spend a little time examining the “gospels only” approach to the New Testament. I’ll include the “red letters only” view as well, which tries to take quotes from Jesus and elevate them above the rest.

Feel free to voice some opinions now or wait until we start trying to cook some of these half-baked thoughts.

James versus Paul regarding faith and works

Leave a reply

One major problem with stating that we are saved by faith alone is that the Bible never says that, at least not directly. The only statement made about “faith alone” is negative:

“You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24)

Oops!

Does James really contradict Paul? I mean Paul says things like:

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” (Romans 3:28)
“However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” (Romans 4:5)
“So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” (Romans 11:5–6)
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Yet James insists that faith is insufficient:

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” (James 2:17–19)

I think James and Paul are using words differently, as biblical writers often do. When Luke speaks of “apostles,” he almost always means the Twelve. When Paul speaks of “apostles,” he is usually referring to those sent out by the church as evangelists.

When James speaks of a faith that even demons have, he’s not speaking of the saving faith that Abraham had. When Paul talks about faith, it’s an active, obedient faith. James is addressing the lifestyle we live as a Christian; Paul is talking about how we achieve justification.

Using James’ terminology, we can’t be saved by faith alone; we also need works. Using Paul’s terminology, works have nothing to do with our salvation; it all depends on faith.

IF we understand how each author uses the words they use, we’ll see there’s no real conflict between their ideas.

How to make death equal gain

5 Replies

formula“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

I love that verse. Paul, a prisoner in a Roman prison, waiting to know if he would be executed or not, writes to encourage his brothers in Philippi. He tells them that he doesn’t know for sure what the verdict will be, but he wants them to know that it doesn’t matter. To him, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

We can think of it as an algebra expression:

If x = life,
then death = gain

What can we substitute for x to make the expression true? Money? Power? Pleasure? Family? Work? No, none of those things work. How can we make death equal gain? By centering our life on Christ. If we try to substitute in any of the things of this world, the formula fails.

If our lives our built around Christ, we need have no fear of death. It ends up being gain for us!